kill 'em with kindness & love...

An op ed in this morning's New York Times by Robert Wright entitled Easter Sermon makes a point I've referred to on a few occassions.

Consider a teaching of Jesus that seems on its surface devoid of strategic import. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Christians often cast this verse as innovative, a sharp break from Jesus’ Jewish tradition. But the same idea can be found in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), and here it is clear that the point of the kindness is to thwart the enemy: “If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat; and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink; for you will heap coals of fire on their heads.”

This was the major stepping off point for a little unkown radical group called Christians two thousand years ago that helped bring about the fall of the mighty Roman Empire. A small group with the radical idea of love over all - and the peace it brings.

The world is facing another of those small unkown groups - radical islam. Here's the money quote from the op ed that sets it all in perspective:

The ultimate in viral marketing was Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice. Deemed a threat to the social order, he was crucified under Roman auspices. But the Romans forgot one thing: If you face a small but growing movement that threatens the imperial order, you shouldn’t attack the men in ways that help the memes.

Mr. Bush says his favorite philosopher is Jesus. One way to show it would be to spend less time repeating the mistake of the Romans and more time heeding the wisdom of Christ.

George W has done everything to keep the radical islamists in the limelight, proven every idea they have concocted against the west, recruited more and more believers to their cause, and given them the ability to keep the focus on the cruelty that the US spreads.

George W acknowledges that he was not a good student. I guess he slept through most of his history classes. Don't you think that insead of clearing brush and parasailing at his ranch this week he should be reading Edward Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire? just asking...